Tortorella: Game 2 no must-win situation

Stanley Cup

TAMPA, Fla. - The Tampa Bay Lightning understand how important it is to rebound from their Game 1 loss in the Stanley Cup finals.

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Just don't try to convince coach John Tortorella that his team has to win Game 2 tonight to have a realistic shot at capturing the NHL's biggest prize.

"I don't like that 'must win,'" Tortorella said Wednesday. "What happens if something doesn't happen the right way for us tomorrow, and what do I come back to my team with?"

The Lightning lost the opener of the best-of-seven series 4-1 to the Calgary Flames, hardly resembling the team that breezed through the first two rounds of the playoffs before outlasting the Philadelphia Flyers in a tough seven-game Eastern Conference final.

The offense sputtered and the defense - an underrated aspect of Tampa Bay's success this season - faltered, too.

Goalie Nikolai Khabibulin allowed four goals in just 19 shots, and the speedy Flames kept the defenseman in front of him on their heels much of the night.

"To me, Calgary played the way they played to get here. We didn't," Tortorella said, adding the message he would deliver to players at practice was simple: Move on.

"We have two weeks to play and you can't get all convoluted and worried about what just happened to you. You have got to figure out a response. ... It's not being down in a ditch when you lose, and it's not being 10 feet tall when you win. It's keeping an even keel and finding a way to approach the next day."